For it is spring and

1) The last day of classes - and my class gave me some solid suggestions for improvements that I will incorporate next semester. (This is the thing I love about teaching college, and at Champlain College in particular.)

2) It was a sunny, scintillating spring day. Three male faculty were out tossing a baseball (or maybe a ( Read more... )

1. 1,000+ words on pbj project for the week. That makes me happy. Yesterday I didn't even manage 5 minutes, but I did get two articles written for the local paper (local state rep becomes VT Commissioner of Taxes and first ever arts event). Today the only writing I did was notes for my next article for Edible Green Mountain, but I spent a fantastic ( Read more... )

1. Clearing out someone else's house results in changes in your own house. Last weekend we brought some items of furniture back to our small house. Two were desks. As a result, my grandmother's mail-ordered from Sears circa 1960 desk needed to go back into my office, where it was for a number of years, until we needed a home-office/bill-paying desk ( Read more... )

1. My students have been great this semester. I can't believe there's only one more week and I'll never see most of them again. But some of them, I think  I'll be reading their work someday. Some of them might edit mine. It's so encouraging to be with young people who are not only passionate about writing, but who know their stuff, including the ( Read more... )

I appreciate what Kate Messner had to say this noon, so I'm making my Friday five part of of Say Something Nice Day (#peoplesucceed). I want to say something nice about:

1. The Tech Coordinator at my my local elementary school, who treated me to lunch and made me feel extra-appreciated for volunteering to help him with a project.

2. Real smiles and ( Read more... )

1. I made it to Boston and to Brigham & Women's successfully! Coming out was still a bit of an adventure, due to a lack of detour signs after a certain point, but I still didn't get horribly lost, only moderately diverted and in the right direction.

2. This was a better day to be in Boston than Vermont. I left in spitting snow and returned in the ( Read more... )

1. My morning LJ browse was interrupted by the phone. Not a potential agent, but a short-notice writing gig that will bring in a bit of unexpected $. I can do this ( Read more... )

1. It's helpful to have multiple writing projects to work on, so that when you are stuck on one, you can move to another, rather than continuing to spin your wheels. I was stuck on a poem for my summer collection yesterday and finally gave up and moved on to The Grove. But later in the day, I came back and made some progress on the same poem.

2. ( Read more... )

1. Sending a child back to their second year of college is so much easier, in all kinds of ways, than sending them off the first year. Less stuff to buy, fewer jitters.  Even though, in my case, the first year wasn't that difficult. Five hour drive time and easy email/phone access are hugely different from a 12-hour time difference and unreliable, ( Read more... )

1. I am so tired of mosquitoes mobbing me whenever I step outside and stand still for more than 30 seconds--like to pick blueberries. But even so, I'm not going to wish for frost, because it will be cold soon enough ( Read more... )